Among the existing devices for ensuring this surveillance mission may be cited the following devices which use:                a ring of episcopes or periscopes which pass through the armor, walls and means of protection in main battle tanks, or        a camera mounted on a steerable mount that can be oriented in relation to two axes, of PTZ type, the acronym standing for the expression Pan Tilt Zoom, which does not make it possible to cover the entire panorama instantaneously or        a network of several distributed cameras covering the panorama, which make it necessary to manage a video stream network, or        a linear array type sensor, at the focus of a lens, the whole scanning over 360° the scene in the equatorial plane for example at rates of 1 to 10 Hz.        
These means of optronic type deliver signals which are optionally processed and then displayed on screens.
These means are very insufficient:                either because they do not make it possible to have a complete perception of the whole of the environment that may exhibit numerous dead angles; it is important for example for a vehicle moving in urban surroundings and that can also maneuver in various directions, with threats that may originate from various directions,        or because the resolution is very insufficient with respect to the angular dimensions of the objects, events or threats to be detected having regard to the range at which it must be possible to discriminate them. This indeed entails:                    recognizing up to 150 m range, snipers that may be threatening with a grenade launcher (or RPG, the acronym standing for the expression Rocket Propelled Grenade), or who make take up position on the roofs of buildings in urban surroundings,            recognizing vehicles moving on the ground, within a radius of up to 500 m; in urban surroundings it is rare to go beyond, in open surroundings detection is possible at distances of 1500 m,            recognizing objects placed on the ground such as mines (or IEDs, the acronym standing for the expression Improvised Explosive Device): objects with a dimension of a few tens of cm or of m, situated a few tens of meters away must be able to be detected so as to decide to avoid them on the move,                        or because the refresh rate is very insufficient to substitute for perception close to human capability, that is to say to have a continuous perception in real time of the environment and of its evolution having regard to the speed of movement of the vehicle and of the reaction decisions that may be taken by the crew. There exist for example devices relying on the use of a lens associated with a CCD camera, which scan the equatorial plane on 360° at rates of 1 to 10 Hz and are limited in angular height to some twenty or so degrees: these devices rely either on small matrices (2 Mpixels or less) so as to be compatible with a High Definition video rate (HD 25 to 50 Hz), or on large matrices of greater than 2 Mpixels but limited in rate (of the order of 1 to 10 Hz) or else on linear arrays scanning the 360° which are likewise limited to scan frequencies of 1 to 10 Hz.        
Finally all these earlier means are limited to daytime operation, being sensitive in the visible or near infrared domain or may offer a night vision capability of thermal infrared type that is insufficient to discern threats and delivering by day images that are less easily utilizable than the images afforded by visible or near infrared cameras.
Consequently, to date there remains a need for a system that simultaneously satisfies all of the aforementioned requirements, in terms of field of vision, resolution, permanence of observation, rate and day/night vision.